Stories From Ukraine: Ivan Pashko
Meet Ivan Pashko, Senior Engineering Manager at Preply, as he shares his story of living through the war in Ukraine. Ivan plays a pivotal role in leading engineering and innovation at Preply. Despite the challenges of war, his commitment to the team and mission remains strong, and his leadership continues to inspire those around him.
The war has forced me to look for new opportunities within the limitations we now live in. But limitations also encourage creativity, making us discover new things.
My focus has shifted in many ways, and that’s good. It allows me to start seeing beauty in everyday things that I had stopped paying attention to. A morning coffee, a walk with my dog, a family lunch, a message from my friends in the military who are defending us — there is so much happiness in small details; I just need to stop for a moment and feel it.
As for the global world, my perspective hasn’t changed. The world exists, moving forward in its own diverse and complex way. There is no need to view it egocentrically, asking whether we have been forgotten or not. The world remains the same — with its problems and focus. We remain here, facing new challenges.
I try to concentrate on things that bring more positivity. Emotions are like accounting: some things add up, and some things take away your energy. I treat them the same way, and a simple formula emerges: maximize positives and minimize negatives. I also want to quote our former Prime Minister, Dmytro Kuleba: “In the end, everything will be fine. If it’s not fine, it means it’s not the end yet.”
Things that once seemed distant — things Ukrainians believed we couldn’t influence because they felt too far away — are now much closer. There is a field of study that examines cultural changes, known as the Culture of Differences, or Hofstede’s theory. It includes a concept called Power Distance — how far people feel from those in power and whether they believe they can influence decisions. This indicator has always been high for us, meaning power felt distant and unreachable. But now, it is starting to decrease. Together, as a united force, we can achieve greater things faster, and we can contribute to meaningful change.
So we keep working every day, helping however we can. Even small help is still help—because only together are we strong.
My message to each of you is to keep caring! Take small steps to help here and now: helping someone carry heavy bags at the store, giving a ride to someone who needs it, donating to the army, medical treatment, or animal shelters, cleaning up the entrance of a building, tidying up around your home, and simply smiling at a neighbor. Small things and small acts of kindness help make the little world around us just a bit better. And that brings a lot of joy!
